NBC and executive producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron have set their sights on their next live musical event. Zadan and Meron will follow up the critically acclaimed Jesus Christ Superstar Live! with the rock musical, Hair Live!.
NBC announced Hair Live! will be shot in front of a live audience and is expected to premiere in the spring of 2019.
Hair debuted off-Broadcast in 1967 followed by a long run on Broadway beginning in April 1968. The popular rock musical features music by Galt MacDermot and lyrics by Gerome Ragni and James Rado. Multiple songs, including “Let the Sun Shine In” and “(The Age of) Aquarius,” made it into the top 10 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart.
“I’m overjoyed that James Rado and Galt MacDermot are trusting us with their masterpiece Hair, one of the most original shows ever conceived for Broadway with one of the greatest scores,” stated Robert Greenblatt, Chairman, NBC Entertainment. “These songs are part of the vocabulary of popular music, and this rebellious story of young people protesting and standing up for what they believe in is as relevant today as it was 50 years ago. This will be the perfect live event, and I’m looking forward to seeing Craig and Neil, along with our partners at MGM and the original creators bring the audience to their feet as they experience these beloved songs and recognizable young characters.”
“When we both, individually, saw Hair on Broadway, we were knocked out by how musical theater could be stretched into something so daring, immersive and audacious,” said Zadan and Meron. “Its recent Broadway revival showed how timeless the show is and that it’s relevant to any era. Hair is filled with heartfelt emotion, joy and thrilling music and it really will be the new dawning of the Age of Aquarius.”
The Plot: Hair Live! tells the story of a group of politically active hippies living a bohemian life in New York while fighting against and resisting the Vietnam War. Claude, his good friends Berger and Sheila, and their “tribe” are coming of age in the world of the sexual revolution while struggling with their rebellion against the war and their conservative parents and society. Claude must decide whether to resist the draft as his friends have done, or succumb to the pressures of conservative America to serve in Vietnam, compromising his principles and beliefs.
